'They're in Total Disarray': Arab American Voters in Michigan Still Abandoning Harris

AP Photo/Mariam Zuhaib

This isn't a new trend but it does seem to be an ongoing one. Arab American voters in Michigan, a crucial group Kamala Harris needs to win the state, are continuing to turn their backs on her. Here's Politico's take from yesterday.

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“People are really right now in a dilemma. They really don’t know where to go. It’s like somebody hit them with a two by four, right on their head,” said Osama Siblani, the publisher of an Arab American newspaper based in Dearborn, Michigan. “So now they’re in total disarray. They may vote for Donald Trump, just to punish Biden and Harris, just to say, ‘Look what you’ve done.’”

The impasse means that Harris is getting several more non-endorsements in the state, including from Rep. Tlaib.

The Arab American PAC, a Dearborn-based PAC with which Siblani is involved that typically endorses Democrats, declined to endorse either Harris or Trump on Monday, writing: “This year, we face a choice of two candidates who are harming our communities here and our families and friends in our homelands.”

Neither did the Uncommitted National Movement, a Michigan-based pro-Palestinian group that advocated for a protest non-vote against Biden in the Democratic primary...

And Democratic Michigan Rep. Rashida Tlaib — the only Palestinian American member of Congress, who represents Dearborn’s district and whose sister, Layla Elabed, is an Uncommitted co-founder — is also withholding her endorsement.

Today the Washington Post has a similar story. It doesn't sound, to me at least, like these are folks eager to vote for Trump, but their frustration with Harris could lead to many of them just staying home.

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Dearborn resident Jaafar Mothafer, 31, said he and his friends have participated in every election since they were old enough to vote...

“None of us are sure what we’re going to do, I think, until we get into the booth and have to vote,” he said. “But right now, it’s very hard to bring ourselves to vote for her — to even consider voting for her — given everything that’s going on.”...

Dearborn Mayor Abdullah Hammoud, who has emerged as a leader of Arab Americans across Michigan, said his city in recent weeks has seen a series of funerals for family members killed in Lebanon, including one this past week for 12 people. Hammoud, who has decided not to endorse either presidential candidate, added that his own family has been directly affected by the violence in the Middle East...

“People are questioning whether they should vote at all because of this moral quandary they’re having: ‘If I vote for whichever candidate and the genocide continues using our tax dollars, am I guilty in assisting that and in killing our family and friends?’” Hammoud said.

On top of all of the obvious foreign policy issues, the Harris campaign also recently blundered by ejecting an invited guest from a Harris event. Ahmed Ghanim is a Democratic activist who was removed with the threat of arrest. Here's his description of what happened.

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So, basically, I went, like anyone else. I was dressed in a suit, going to this event. I stood in line. It was a small event by invite only, 200 people there, less than 200 people. I went through a security like the airport security, where they have to check everything. They take even the signs that you have from the campaign, so nobody had any signs. You’re only allowed to have your wallet, and that’s it.

And I was cleared by security. I was seated like anyone. I was sitting there for like 10 or 15 minutes, just trying to answer some emails. I did not engage with anybody in conversation, because they seat you randomly with people you don’t know around you. And after 10 minutes, a lady came and told me, “Can you follow me?” And I thought probably they are changing my seat. I said, “That’s fine.” I followed her.

And at the door, I found two police officers waiting for me and said, “They don’t want you here at the event. If you either leave now, or I’ll put you in a police car.” And that was shocking to me. So, just I was sitting there, and I did not — I did not do anything. I did nothing. And now I’m threatened to be arrested or have to leave. And I was just asking. I told him, “OK, I’m going to leave. I just want to know: Why are you kicking me out?” And he said, “It is not me. It’s the venue that’s kicking you out.” So I asked him, “Why would the venue kick me out? The venue, they don’t know anything about me. It’s just a venue.” He said, “I don’t know.” And the lady that escorted me out, she ended the conversation and said, “This is not a conversation anymore. You have to be escorted out.” So, I didn’t want to escalate the situation, and I just left.

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This is the kind of think campaigns will do if they get wind that someone is planning to launch a protest during an event. But in this case, there's no evidence of any such plan. He denies any intent to disrupt. The campaign later called him to apologize but would never tell him why he was removed.

Normally, something like this might not be a big deal but when people are already angry with your campaign, treating a member of the community like this probably sends exactly the wrong message.

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